"7YW 15mm, OG or freikorps" Topic

Or something els.

I'm having problems finding pictures of painted freikorps figures. how are they in detail and quality? true 15mm? or larger?

I chose Eureka Miniatures.
link

Freikorps figures are closer to true 15mm than OG SYW which are 17/18mm. Unfortunately, I have no photos, but have plenty of OG SYW if you are interested.

Cheers,

Many years ago I tried Freikorps figures. The French had the most appealing figures at the time. They were made with a very brittle metal. A figure would be knocked off the table and shatter like glass! (Some of my re-assembled ones look quite bizzarre at close inspection!) I liked the French infantry with double turnbacks, and bought, and really like them. The old horse figures seem to have been replaced, but not to my liking. I also liked the Chasseurs de Fischer French volunteer infantry, and also the Clermont Prince volunteers. Size-wise, I mixed in other units of all-Minifigs (smaller) and also all-Essex infantry (bigger, but short legs). The Essex Austrian infantry is superb, and the French just a bit less so. I don't like the size of the Essex horses – too big. I have about 1,000 French in Freikorps, Minifigs, Essex (infantry only) for my western army. I used Minifig Austrians to do Hanoverians; freikorps Prussians for Hessians and Brunswickers. I even used a Texas company (Frontier?) to do the British, even with their too big, too long musket and bayonet! I can't find any British 7YW 15's that I like!

More recently I am doing Austrian and Prussian (and French) by Old Glory. The Essex French infantry fit well with them in their own battalions, but not the others. Many complain of the Old Glory horses, and they are less than satisfactory, but I am not willing to buy AB horses to replace them as many do.

The most human-looking are generally the Essex, but most suffer from too-short legs. Old Glory has the problem of the "shuffle," but they are least expensive for the 48 figure battalion I like to do. I personally find the Old Glory French infantry in double turnbacks, attacking, as the best 15mm 7YW infantry made today!

Frankly, in 15's, we are hard pressed to find a universally Perry-like, or Victrix-like quality 15mm 7YW sets.

GdeP

Best bang for the buck combined with great sculpting are Blue Moon 18mm figures. They currently have French and Indian War, so the range is NOT complete for 7YW. If you can wait for them to fill out the range towards 7YW, I would. If not, Eureka are the best but a bit pricy. Luckily, they should mix well with Blue Moon.

Eureka are true 18mm. As such, infantry figures will blend in reasonably well with large 15mm like Old Glory, but not with other 15mm ranges like Essex. And regardless what you like, Eureka cavalry will just too big to mix with any other 15mm range (I have figures from Old Glory 15, Essex, Minifigs both USA and UK, and Edition Brokaw.)
Personally, I like Minifigs the best – it may be a matter of personal taste. Unfortunately, at the present time they are only available from the UK, as the US producer is MIA. I like Minifigs because they are very straightforward to paint.
Essex are nice, a complete range, too – but they are on the smaller side, and the there is a gnome-like feel to the figures that gets tiring after a while.
Old Glory are fine, large 15mm miniatures. Cheap and easily available, and good variety. I am not a fan of the poses, and I feel they are over-sculpted with an excess of bags, pouches, etc. Despite my mixed review, they seems to be the best option at the moment if you want to embark in a large project.
Size aside, I've found Eureka a little puzzling to paint – again, it may be personal taste, but there are some obvious details that I would expect SYW gamers to care about (e.g. turnbacks) and I found they are difficult to paint in Eureka miniatures. (at least, in the Austrian range. I know there are little differences that makes later figures better than earlier sculpts.)
I do not own SYW Freikorps. I bought from them miniatures for other period, and I found them good, but somehow I never got too excited. I would use them to fill gaps, but I would not build a whole army with them. But I would definitely recommend to look at them as an option.

Also: Irregular Miniatures (UK) has a SYW range. Never seen those miniatures in person, though. I'd love to hear comment and see a picture of them, if anybody can help.

I chose to go with OG after surveying the options. Eureka are nice, including the horse, but I concur with the above poster that the horses themselves are just too big to match any othee manufacturer. A friend of mine mounted OG riders on Eureka horses and was happy, but this gets expensive. IF IF Blue Moon had a range I would be tempted to choose it over OG, but they don't so I moved on. I do plan to use Blue Moom for WSS/GNW and for AWI down the line, however.

Minifgs and Essex are you two other options, and each is complete. Freikorps could be mixed with Essex but not the others, IMHO. I have mixed Essex cavalry with my OG cavalry and it looks okay. Foot not as much.

I do have a pack of french OG laying around from an old project, and I don't like them, there is no place to really paint the leather cross belts, them seem to busy and muddled.

Many years ago I tried Freikorps figures. The French had the most appealing figures at the time. They were made with a very brittle metal. A figure would be knocked off the table and shatter like glass!

That was many years ago. They haven't been in that metal for about 20 years…

One of the great things about Freikorps [now part of QRF] is the ability to mix and match their figures with others that are true 15s – Essex is one, Minifigs is another and Roundway is a third. Finally, I've noticed that the OG15s – at least the French that I have – lack a certain 'style' if you will. I know they're French but why have cavalry just standing around doing nothing? Sorry, I guess it's a personal preference but I love charging horses and QRF [Freikorps] and Minifigs and Essex fit that style.

I've mixed Minifigs and Essex and Freikorps on the same stands and had wonderful results. Admittedly, they are in different styles but if you want a more ragged look – true 15s are the way to go.

"I do have a pack of french OG laying around from an old project, and I don't like them, there is no place to really paint the leather cross belts, them seem to busy and muddled."

Give them to me! They will enjoy the good life in the Netherlands.

Cheers,

For me you can't beat Essex minis, but I also use Minfigs, Matchlock, Blue Moon, Frei Korps, and not too many Old Glory, they're too big!
Here's a comparison pic of Lto R Essex, Blue Moon, Matchlock and Minifigs.

Here's a pic of some Frei Korps Indians, which are slightly smaller than Essex, but compatible in my opinion.

More FIW photos on my blog
link

I have a mix of Frei Krops, Essex, MiniFigs, and Old Glory. Although most of the infantry fit well, the same can not be said for the cavalry. I do like to position of the FK infantry the best.

I started off with Eureka infantry and cavalry, as I liked the sculpting. Found OG infantry OK sizewise with these, but not in same units (My OGs are British and Hanoverian, using Eureka for Hessians, Brunswickers etc). I have also bought some painted Essex units (French) and these are OK, as long as not right next Eureka or OG. The Blue Moon French Indian Wars French infantry are also fine.
Cavalry is a real problem though. I HATE the Old Glory-tiny little horses and the riders are not much better. It is a real problem trying to find cavalry compatible with the Eureka. I bought some Black Hat French WSS Dragoons in desperation. They are not too bad, but look a bit puny at side of Eureka Hussars. The Blue Moon cavalry are really nice sculpts, but just too small to stand alongside the OG and Eureka. I have also bought some Lancashire Games British Dragoons, which look as if they will be OK alongside the OG infantry.
It does seem that many manufacturers find it difficult to keep infantry and cavalry to the same scale.

Go Heroics and Ros 6mm, skip all the "X" vs "Y" debates.

Don't those look pretty….6mm….do it…you know you wanna

I like the look of a unit of OG but don't like painting them. Most of mine are Essex and Minifigs.